Food prices continue to see huge increases in Antigua and Barbuda

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shelves with variety testy vitamin products in fruit and vegetables department in the supermarket

Consumer Price Index (CPI) December-2022

St John’s Antigua, January 24, 2023. The Statistics Division, under the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance releases the CPI for Dec 2022

Year-on-Year Analysis

The All Items Index increased 9.2% for the twelve months ending December 2022.

The Food Index rose 12.1% over the last twelve months.

The index for Oils and Fats rose 27.5% with average price increases of Fresh Butter and Soya Oil contributing to these large increases.

The index for Sugars, Jams, Honey, Chocolate, and Confectionery rose 21.2% over the year.

The index for Sugar increased 27.8% over the same period while the index for Edible Ice Cream and Sorbet rose 16.3%.

The index for Food Products N.E.C rose by 19.8% and the index for Meat and Meat Products increased by 15.2%.

The remaining food groups posted changes ranging from -3.4% (Fruit) to 12.9% (Bread and Cereals).

The Index for All Items Less Food and Energy rose 8.5%, a slightly larger increase than the 8.1% increase in November 2022.

The index was similarly affected as the November index. It was impacted by a larger increase in the the index for Transport Services which rose from 34.6% to 41.7%.

Month-to-Month Price Changes

The Monthly Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% for the month ending December 2022.

The Food Index increased by 1.1% in December 2022 following 0.8% in November. Six of the nine major supermarket food group indexes increased over the month.

The index for Sugars, Jams, Honey, Chocolate, and Confectionery rose 7.9% and the index for Sugar rose 16.6%.

The index for Fish and Seafood increased by 5.7% in December as both the indexes for Fresh Chilled or Frozen Fish Seafood and Preserved or Processed Fish and Seafood increased by 15.6% and 2.2% respectively.

The remaining food groups’ increases ranged from 0.4% (Bread and Cereals) to 2.5% (Vegetables).

In contrast, the Meat and Meat Products index fell 2.0% with the indexes for Poultry falling 6.0%, Lamb, Mutton, and Goat (-2.3)%, and Beef and Veal (-1.5%).

The index for All Items Less Food and Energy remains unchanged. The index for Miscellaneous Goods and Services rose 0.3%.

The index for Furnishings, Household Equipment, and Routine Household Maintenance had a marginal increase of 0.1%. These increases were offset by a decline in the Transport index of -0.4%.

Methodology

What is the consumer price index (CPI) measuring and how is it done?

The All Items Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the main measure of what is commonly called inflation, or headline inflation.

It measures the change in prices, on average, from month to month, and from year to year of the goods and services bought by most households.

Prices are collected monthly and quarterly from supermarkets and other suppliers of goods and services.

The pattern of household expenditure on these goods and services is derived from a regular household budget (or expenditure) survey (HBS).

The prices and spending patterns (known as weights) are then combined to calculate the price indices for groups of goods and services and for the All Items index.

These indices are based on expenditure patterns in 2006.

The All Items (or overall) index, with all of its twelve (12) component indices, is published each month.

For a detailed account of the methodology used in calculating the CPI, please call the Statistics Division.

Copies of the CPI for Dec 2022 can be accessed on the Division’s official website www.statistics.gov.ag

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Greetings: I am hoping that this humble suggestion is being carried out as we speak. That, the University of the West Indies in collaboration with various departments of health and agriculture in the Caribbean Region develop an indigenous and nutritious food basket. If executed well, the economic and health benefits will be huge.

  2. Food prices going up in countries like America, the UK, Canada and many more around the globe is nothing new. We are a small island state who buys most of our food from those big countries who are equally suffering from cost of living increase, so what should we expect?

    Each year, iPhone comes out with a brand new phone and brand new price, but who’s complaining? Year after year, nothing in the world gets cheaper. That’s reality the world we’re now living in, we just have to make the necessary adjustments in order to survive and shop smart. Complaining and finger pointing and promising to fix something that can’t be fix by any one government, is nothing short of deception. Let us all begin to shop smart to survive!

  3. @Concern, you make absolutely no sense. Governments can take measures to help ‘ease the squeeze’ as we say, and this government has done NOTHING. Suggestions were given, but because of the source and the ‘badmindedness ‘ nothing. In an effort to defend this incompetent government, you disregard the fact that 11 billion dollars has been collected and we have nothing to show. When oil was worth nothing, we were still paying exorbitant prices at the pump, our electricity bill never changed. Our money needs to be accounted for.

  4. @Concern, you make absolutely no sense. Governments can take measures to help ‘ease the squeeze’ as we say, and this government has done NOTHING. Suggestions were given, but because of the source and the ‘badmindedness ‘ nothing. In an effort to defend this incompetent government, you disregard the fact that 11 billion dollars has been collected and we have nothing to show. When oil was worth nothing, we were still paying exorbitant prices at the pump, our electricity bill never changed. Our money needs to be accounted for. You sound like Gaston Brown telling people to use their savings, and no stimulus because the women are going to do their nails and starve the pickney. Come on.

  5. Food prices have been going up in every country around the world. As much as it hurts, is Antigua and Barbuda so special that it could avoid the Increased cost, shipping and everything else?

    Grow your own food. Chupzzzz. Just shut up.

Comments are closed.